Endura are definitely a band that seems to be releasing a lot material lately. Surprisingly enough, most of it is of the same high quality. Black Eden is definitely one of their best releases, probably due to the fact that it is a completely conceptual work of art with all tracks intertwined to create a web of psychotic horror. For those of you who are not familiar with Endura, their music is not metal at all. They use keyboards, vocals, occasional drums and some odd instruments to create their image of what lies beyond our perception. The best thing to do is to go through their tracks one by one, so you can really see why this album is so good.

Track one is basically what you could describe as the beginning of some bizarre and unexplainable event. Noise slowly rising from the background consumes the air; slow waves of inhuman ambience pulsate in agony. Discordance rules this track appropriately titled "Satanas Ex Machina". It definitely has a very mechanized feeling to it. There's no voice in this track - no presence of the human spirit can be detected here. Track two, called "The Left Hand of The Dead", introduces even more noise that now dominates the scene. You hear screams of damned souls trapped; you get a feeling that something slowly ascends from the depths below. A very powerful track indeed that makes you start to feel as tense as it ever gets; and then it suddenly ends. Insanity is again a true form of the Endura genius. Third track named "The Devils Stars Burn Cold" is a bit more mellow in a sense that it has more traditional keyboard melodies accompanied by some truly hypnotic singing. There's a lot tension going on in a background, and the harmonies are very ominous sounding, but you are definitely given a slight chance to somewhat relax. You're slowly getting in a mood for some more violent noise by the end of the track.

However, the next track "When God Was A Snake" is not what you'd expect it to be as it moves slowly with all its mellow euphony and some chanting. All of this is accompanied by the tribal drums that sound very good in the mix. Something in this track suggests that it will eventually build up to an absolute discordance, yet it just fades out eventually without getting any darker or more evil-sounding. Strangely, it works. "When God Was A Snake" is one of the most memorable tracks on Black Eden . The next piece, "The Sun No Longer Sets Me Free", is a little bit hard to listen to with its gothic monk chanting dominating the sound. It's very much up front and eventually you kind of get tired of it. The last and the best track of the album called "Golden Heresy"; slowly and painfully it builds into the symphony of pure blasphemy combined with sinister tones of its massive keyboard parts. You are feeling like you are a part of a funeral procession that slowly buries everyone who participates in it. If you thought that you knew the taste of tragedy before, try listening to these songs again. As vast as the deepest ocean, "A Golden Heresy" embraces your darkest fears and elevates them to the heights of the most psychotic occult fantasy. Nothing will be left untouched in the wake of this entity, and nothing will be the same. Endura has created the hymn to the monstrous and the most beautiful creatures not of this world. Lovecraft is definitely a great inspiration here.

By all means, give Black Eden a listen. Even if you are a hardcore metal fan like me, you'll still find plenty of the darkest emotions here. This music has the atmosphere of a felt diabolical presence that the band embraces wholeheartedly. The music (yes, there's actually music here, oh ye Mortiis) is absolutely haunting and dark. "Strange trees still grow on the other side of Eden" says the title quote. I couldn't agree more. I wish that more of them would be discovered and cherished by the upholders of the truth of our existence.

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